‘Teen Wolf': Who Is The Benefactor? Top Theories Including Danny & More

We’re nearly midway into Season 4 of ‘Teen Wolf’, and the mystery of The Benefactor is weighing as heavily on fans’ minds as is the mystery of where Derek’s eyebrows go when he shifts. Read on for the prevailing theories!

The mystery of The Benefactor is one of the most compelling storylines we’ve seen from Teen Wolf since the mystery of the Kanima in Season 2. However, while the Kanima could have been literally anybody, what we’ve seen from The Benefactor’s motivations thus far are murky enough that they’re throwing fans off of any particular trail. The mystery is especially compounded by the fact that dead things don’t stay dead in Beacon Hills, giving us a way larger pool to choose from. Read on for the prevailing theories, and let me know who you think is the one responsible for killing off the supernaturals in Beacon Hills! (Spoiler: my money’s on Danny.)

‘Teen Wolf': Who Is The Benefactor? Top 4 Theories Including Danny & The Argents

What we know about The Benefactor so far is that they have created an encrypted list called the “dead pool” on which is listed every supernatural in Beacon Hills (sans newbie Liam). They pay off their assassins using the $117 million stolen from the Hale family vault (hilariously located underneath Derek’s fave spot to be, Beacon Hills High), and they’re happy to employ high schoolers like Garrett (Mason Dye) and Violet (Samantha Logan) to do their dirty work.

The best clues pointing us toward The Benefactor’s identity are the two passcodes that have unlocked two thirds of the dead pool list — “Allison” and “Aiden.” The addition of Aiden’s name kind of gums up the works — it’s hard to believe that anybody who cares about Allison’s death also cares about Aiden’s, and vice versa, but the person behind the dead pool is clearly not operating on all cylinders.

1. Gerard Argent

A curmudgeonly lunatic, Gerard Argent (Michael Hogan) has been causing trouble long before he arrived on the scene in Season 2. It was his zealotry that influenced his daughter Kate (Jill Wagner) into thinking that it would be just a super idea to seduce Derek (Tyler Hoechlin) and to burn his whole family alive. (Well, most of them. We meet a new Hale relative every day.)

Gerard crawled away, beaten and bloody, in Season 2, but we met him again in Season 3A so that he could tell us a long-winded story about how he blinded Deucalion and basically made him into the beta-killing Alpha pack-leading monster he became. As far as we know, Gerard is still alive.

2. Victoria Argent

Where Chris Argent (JR Bourne) has since mellowed on the whole let’s-kill-everything-with-glowing-eyes thing, wife Victoria (Eaddy Mays) wasn’t as sympathetic prior to her death. Indeed, the unfortunate set of circumstances that led to her death were of her own supernatural-hating machinations. She tried to kill Scott (Tyler Posey) for dating Allison, and when Derek went to save Scott, Victoria tried to kill Derek, too. She had no chance against the then-Alpha, who bit her in self-defense.

As it was part of the hunter code at the time, she was forced to commit suicide rather than change into a wolf herself. Before Chris helped her plunge the knife into her chest (because romance), her eyes glowed beta yellow, indicating that she had already changed. Given werewolf healing, could she still be alive somewhere?

Evidence for Victoria being The Benefactor:

-Not a fan of supernaturals.
-Probably next level pissed about Allison’s death.
-Is crazy.
-Used an electric pencil sharpener as a metaphor for what she would do to Scott’s downstairs implement for sleeping with her daughter — does not mess around.
-Eaddy Mays is still heavily involved in the Teen Wolf fandom; she even writes fanfiction! I’m sure she’d love to be back on the set.

Evidence against Victoria being The Benefactor:

-Probably doesn’t know Aiden; definitely doesn’t care about his death.
-Her glowing eyes may have just been a decision made because it looked cool — she may very well be dead.
-Stiles (Dylan O’Brien) would be on the list for his inadvertent involvement in Allison’s death; we haven’t seen the full list yet, but I also feel like Victoria would be the type to throttle him dead with her own bare hands, anyway — list be damned.

3. Chris Argent

As said above, Chris has softened on his anti-supernaturals stance and, at the end of Season 3B, decided to adhere to Allison’s new code — “We protect those who can’t protect themselves.”

However, at the end of “I.E.D.,” the July 21 episode of Teen Wolf, he totally caved and echoed the old code — “we hunt those who hunt us” — to the Calaveras who were threatening him. Maybe it was a trick, but maybe he has gone off the deep end after Allison’s death; maybe he had arrived in Beacon Hills prior to Scott’s warning texts that Kate was alive and maybe he was the one behind the heist! (Maybe.) We know that he really loves flash bombs, after all.

Evidence for Chris being The Benefactor:

-Historically not a fan of supernaturals.
-Is grief beard-level pissed about Allison’s death.
-In an exclusive interview with HollywoodLife.com, JR Bourne used the word “vengeance” a lot when describing both The Benefactor’s and Chris’ motivations this season. I’m still suspicious about it.
-Loves flash bombs; they were used to subdue Kate and Peter both so that The Benefactor (or their lackey) could make off with the loot.

Evidence against Chris being The Benefactor:

-Probably doesn’t really care about Aiden’s death, and Aiden sure as hell wasn’t an innocent.
-It would be awful for Chris to have developed so much as a character only for him to backslide and forget Allison’s code just a scant few months after her devastating death. So, I’m hoping that won’t be a thing we’ll have to watch.
-He is so handsome?? (Seems relevant??)

4. Danny Mahealani

For those of you in denial about the absence of Danny (Keahu Kahuanui) this season, join me in the belief that he will still be making an appearance!

We don’t know a lot about Danny despite his character having been in the series since the beginning. However, what we do know is that he is super good with computers and has also known about the supernatural situation in Beacon Hills since forever. Furthermore, it was the death of twin brother Aiden (Max Carver) that was the catalyst for Ethan (Charlie Carver) to leave Beacon Hills — and Danny — behind. Finally, while Danny and Allison were never portrayed as super close, she was still an innocent that died in supernatural crossfire.

Evidence for Danny being The Benefactor:

-Good with computers; is the type to be able to create an encrypted list, to interact with his assassins solely via technology.
-Presumably upset about Ethan leaving, even though we didn’t see a lot of their relationship from his end.
-Creator Jeff Davis and co. have been keeping mum about Keahu’s appearance (or lack thereof) this season, but Danny has always been a background character. Now that the season has wrapped, it wouldn’t be a spoiler to say whether Danny would appear or not — unless he has an important role. Say Anything like John Cusack, Teen Wolf crew!
-While he doesn’t seem the type to have the McCall pack on his list, why wouldn’t he? We don’t know a lot about him, and he had a crush on Matt Daehler, controller of the kanima! Crazy attracts crazy, and we don’t know Danny’s not crazy.
-As a high schooler himself, he wouldn’t mind enlisting fellow high schoolers.
-As a clever high schooler, he probably knows about the Hale vault; he knew about the ley lines intersecting Beacon Hills, and he probably has the whole place mapped out.

Evidence against Danny being The Benefactor:

-Doesn’t seem the type to have the McCall pack on his list.
-He is so, so handsome?? (Also seems relevant??)
-At the Wolfs Bane 2 Con in Birmingham over the weekend of July 11-13, Holland Roden (Lydia Martin) allegedly said in a meet and greet that Danny wouldn’t be appearing this season.

The above four aren’t the only theories being discussed, but they are the most prevalent. For example, there are dreamers out there hoping for the return of Jackson (Colton Haynes), and, who knows, it could even be Peter (Ian Bohen)! We haven’t seen Peter on the list yet, and his tomahawk-in-the-chest could have been a red herring; he could have orchestrated the robbery himself in order to avoid suspicion. We don’t know a whole lot about recently-appeared bad dad Papa McCall (Matthew Del Negro), either, and it’s not like he’s contributing a lot, plot-wise, other than his ridiculously handsome face.

Finally, while it’s certainly possible that The Benefactor is someone we haven’t even met yet, it wouldn’t be very impactful for this entity with an intense grudge against the supernaturals of Beacon Hills to be a new face.

While I’m Team Danny (and may have just convinced myself of Papa McCall’s guilt), I want to hear what you think, HollywoodLifers. Who’s your best guess for The Benefactor? Let me know!

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I don’t think Lydia’s grandmother is the benefactor. That is predictible and we all know Teen Wolf is anything but. It’s just like in season 1 – everything pointed to the vet being the alpha but it turned out to be Peter. I could be wrong. Maybe it’s Danny or he is beoing controled or something. Or it’s the nurse from season one that Peter killed. Maybe she is back too :P You never know…

Yeah, I also think her grandma is being controlled. She left that note for Lydia to decode, moutain ash to protect her and I doubt she’d put her own granddaughter on the hitlist. AND this backs up my theory of it being the nurse because Lydia’s mom said she died at Eichen house. So he could have faked her death maybe and captured her then when Meridith started becomeing a player he stopped her. Not like he needs two banshees.

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Posted at 3:46 PM on August 12, 2014

my bet is on John Parrish . Why?
we don’t know anything about that guy. When Stalinski asks him why he chose Beacon Hills considering the crime statistics in this town, Parrish just brushed it off.

He is on the list but we still don’t know why
He is relatively new and I think he just wanted to fly under the radar while investigating on his targets (he is working with Stalinski who is known for working on “bizarre” cases) Plus the girl who was hired by the benefactor (maybe she tried to investigate on him herself while working for him).

I have a really serious feeling that it could be Danny. At ComicCon this past July, someone asked Jeff Davis ‘What ever happened to Danny?’. His response was ‘You haven’t seen the last of Danny.’ I’m thinking it might actually be Danny.

I think it’s either Jerard or the nurse at the asylum.
Jerard because I’m sure he’s still out there and wants to cause havoc, and he’s got a history with the Hales and would know that they have a vault. Maybe Allision if she were alive would have been on that list? She’s betrayed the hunters really bad tbh and I wouldn’t put it past Gerard to kill her.
The nurse because I feel like Meridith wouldn’t have killed herself and she said she knows the benefactor and the only person she knows that isn’t Scott’s pack is the nurse. Maybe he also intentionally let her out to find lydia when they were first trying to break the code. Plus he was around long enough to know whats going down with the supernaturals and maybe Meridith had told him more. Idk But the Victoria theory is really interesting, it would be cool if it were her, she’s cool and scary.

according to the shallow storyline of episode 6-11 we now know the benefactor is a long time enemy scott n his pack made..so i guess the enemy might be in season 1 or 2..so i concude it might be deucalian the apex predator

I mean really though, look.
– He’s always wanted power.
– Derek basically killed him, and thus losing the title of Alpha. Now he’s resurrected and do we really think he doesn’t want that anymore?
– He’s teaming up with Kate. Crazy.
– He’s crazy.
– Any reason he suddenly seems like he has more than enough Werewolf power and Derek has close to none? I think he’s been with Kate since the beginning and transferred Derek’s power to himself. (Not completely logical, but hey it’s Teen Wolf.)
-His name isn’t in the deadpool! They just decoded the third part and from what I’ve seen he isn’t on any of them.

This is just a theory. There’s reason to believe he’s not because why would he kill Derek and Malia, his own family. (Malia is a Hale)

What about Liam’s best friend? The episode where Lydia threw a party, she walked into the room where it was silenced & Liam’s best friend (idk his name) walks in where they have a conversation, but you can’t hear what they are saying. You just see Lydia’s frantic, scared expression. There is more to that conversation that I’m sure we will find out in this season. Teen wolf is good at making “the bad guy”, some one you least expect.. So my money is on that guy.

What about the teacher that Jennifer supposedly killed? Mr. Harris. They never found his body and he knew about the supernatural. I’m just saying I never thought we saw the last of him. And not to mention he was always a dick, and they made him look like he would be the bad guy a few times. Like in season two before we found out Matt was the master of the Kanima.

You know how after seeing all 3 parts of the list, there’s still one supernatural name not showing up, and that guy hunger’s for power like crazy and oh yeah he’s devious and treacherous… Plus he’s been the villain once, why not twice?

I have to disagree with one thing since it is from the show.
Danny wasn’t completely upset about Ethan leaving. Remember, he told Ethan that even if he stayed Danny wouldn’t continue to date him since he didn’t feel like he could date a werewolf.

Most likely it’s Peter…I mean they had the assassin with no mouth caught and Peter comes along and just brutally kills him probably to keep him from “talking”. Also I remember in a sneak peek before the season started you see a clip of Peter saying I want what I always wanted. ..Power. Well what better way to gain power than to get rid of all the supernatural in beacon hills.

Your right his name is not on the dead pool list. Plus Derek lost powers and Peter gained them. Derek is on to him though. Thats why Derek maided the comment to Peter it seems like you have a little extra werewolf strength

Another argument against Danny? He probably would have been using a more sophisticated computer program to pay the Mute. I am on the Gerard bandwagon and am waiting for both Liam and Malia’s names to be missing because unless the Caleveras told him (and she might just be a beta werewolf as far as they know) he might not know and well, timelines being wonky, its probably only been 48 hours since he got bit so he can’t update. He would know about Aiden and that he was running with Scott’s pack probably by keeping abreast of the Alpha Pack and the names were meant to just bother the group to throw them off.

Another reason why it might be Danny: Jackson was his best friend who was turned into a killing machine to be controlled by two lunatics and then a werewolf and is probably why he moved away to London. I’ve thought of Mrs. Argent as being dead this whole time and I just don’t really see her coming back and I thought Jeff Davis had said that there weren’t going to be any more people rising from the dead, unless I just imagined that part.